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Date: 3/15/2023
BELCHERTOWN — With current Town Administrator Gary Brougham set to retire in June, the town has begun the process of looking for someone to fill the position.
Brougham has been the town administrator since 1997 and his contract was set to expire in October 2021 before being renewed a couple times.
Belchertown partnered with the consulting firm Community Paradigm Associates, which has been assisting the town’s search.
The firm’s Managing Principal Bernie Lynch and Senior Associate John Petrin from have been in contact with the Select Board to give updates on their search.
At the March 6 Select Board meeting, Petrin told Select Board Chair Jim Barry that the position opening of town administrator has been advertised and applications will be accepted until March 17.
Petrin added he has already received “several comments and interest” for the position but expects more applications to be submitted closer to the deadline.
Petrin added, “The problem we face is 90 percent of what we receive for resumes come down to the last day of the application period and typically in the last three minutes. We are always amazed by that.”
In December 2022, the town moderator began putting together a search committee to help Community Paradigm Associates find candidates.
The search committee met for the first time on March 7 and is composed of Kenneth Elstein, Michael Knapp, Joanne Misiaszek, Terry Nagel and Elizabeth Vaughan.
The purpose of the meeting was to have initial introductions with each other and Community Paradigm Associates, discuss committee charge and timeline, elect a committee chair, elect a committee clerk, review the Open Meeting Law, discuss the municipal market and recruitment process, discuss interview format and questions and schedule interviews.
Petrin told the committee that the job description has been sent to the Massachusetts Municipal Association to advertise as well as every town administrator in the state. Petrin and Lynch have also begun reaching out to people they think fit the criteria of the position.
Petrin said, “I have talked to several people with good backgrounds. There is some interest in the position. We usually get 15 to 20 applicants in a position of this nature. I don’t get concerned about the numbers I just want to find good finalists.”
Petrin and Lynch met with each member of the Select Board, the town administrator and several department heads to be able to put together a section about Belchertown for potential candidates to understand more of the community.
“I think this job opening is an interesting opportunity. The Select Board is looking to move to the next steps of government in doing things. Belchertown has a good reputation overall. It is a great place to be. The challenge is the location, there are a few administrators in the area, but not a lot, so the question will be the commute,” Petrin said.
The Select Board has discussed adding some more authority over day to day routines to the town administrator position and transition to a town manager.
Petrin and the committee will work closely to look through the applicants they receive, select which candidates should move forward and eventually present the Select Board with at least three or four candidates for a final interview.
“Our goal is to submit three or four finalists that hopefully stay in the process for the final interviews and the Select Board will have the opportunity to choose from those candidates,” Petrin added.
After the March 17 deadline, Petrin said he will look through the applications and place them in three separate pools or tiers for the committee to look over.
He added, “Every situation is different, but I will typically put them in three pools. Sometimes a candidate may be in tier two this time, tier one in another. It all the depends on the candidate. We will work through each tier as a committee, but we recommend no more than seven [candidates] for the initial screening.”
The tentative plan is for the committee to discuss each candidate and create interview questions at a meeting at the end of March and host their interviews the first week of April.